It’s rare to see media outlets agree, and it’s rare to see them take an outright stand in support of an individual player in the middle of a controversy, but that’s what’s currently happening in Australia. That would be the ongoing controversy over the continuous booing of Australian Football League legend Adam Goodes of the […]

It’s rare to see media outlets agree, and it’s rare to see them take an outright stand in support of an individual player in the middle of a controversy, but that’s what’s currently happening in Australia.

From the outside, it seems we’re seeing this media stand now thanks largely to two factors: the reputation of the player involved, which is remarkable, and the nature of this story, which goes well beyond sport and has much broader implications for Australia. Those who don’t follow the AFL regularly probably haven’t heard of Goodes, but inside the sport, he’s a comparable figure to the likes of Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. He’s twice won the Brownlow Medal (the AFL equivalent of MVP, awarded annually to the “fairest and best” player), twice won a premiership with the Swans, and currently sits 9th on the all-time AFL appearances list. Goodes was also named Australian of the Year in 2014 both for his sporting achievements and for his work as an indigenous community leader.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 19: Adam Goodes of the Swans is chaired off after his 350th AFL match during the 1st Preliminary Final AFL match between the Sydney Swans and the North Melbourne Kangaroos at ANZ Stadium on September 19, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

The story’s taken plenty of twists since then, but it particularly intensified this May when Goodes responded to booing from Carlton Blues fans with an indigenous-themed dance that included throwing an imaginary spear. The booing of Goodes has gotten much stronger and much more prevalent since that moment. Things particularly came to a head this week with Goodes taking a leave from the club after last week’s match against the West Coast Eagles in Perth, where he was booed every time he touched the ball. One Eagles fan was even ejected after shouting that Goodes should “get back to his zoo.”

This is a personal plea from the Herald to every Australian who thinks the controversy over booing Adam Goodes is a media beat-up or just another case of a minority playing the victim; that the Sydney Swans player is being a sook and should be more grateful for the opportunities an Aborigine like him has been given; that this is more political correctness gone mad and just another case, as columnist Andrew Bolt claims, of the “racism industry” running rampant.

Yes, as a footy fan you do have a right to boo players on the field. It’s a tradition to target rivals – usually those who are the most threat to your team getting on top and staying there.

Yes, you have a right to follow others when they boo, too, to magnify the effect and perhaps put the player off his or her game.

You even have a right to be a bigot, according to federal Attorney-General George Brandis last year as he prosecuted the case for more hate speech: “In a free country people do have rights to say things that other people find offensive or insulting or bigoted.”

But first ask yourself these questions in regards to Adam Goodes, a proud Indigenous Australian, unquestionable footballing great, Australian of the Year and most of all a human just like you, your children and your friends.

Am I booing Goodes because I have the right to boo and the right to be a bigot or I am doing it because I am too scared to say no, that this is not the right thing to do; that this is not okay for Australia, that this has gone too far, that this has given ammunition to those who have more sinister motives?

Today we have taken an unusual step – a call to action in support of Indigenous footballer Adam Goodes and against the racism inherent in the abuse he has suffered from a minority of fans of our national game. Our move reflects profound concern about the treatment that Goodes, who is apparently considering a premature end to his illustrious career, has been receiving from an ignorant, mean-spirited portion of our society.

We take it as self-evident that vilifying any person on the grounds of race is a dreadful and harmful act that not only reflects terribly on the perpetrator, but is corrosive of our very community. The attacks on Goodes in recent times have reached such a level that they are reflecting poorly on our entire nation. We all have a duty to help end this travesty – and prevent repeats – by having the courage and decency to call out such behaviour as a racist disgrace. It certainly has no place in a nation that would pride itself on being diverse, multicultural and, above all, fair.

during the round 18 AFL match between the Sydney Swans and the Adelaide Crows at Sydney Cricket Ground on August 1, 2015 in Sydney, Australia.

The degree to which the media, and the Morning Herald and The Age in particular, are going in on this is remarkable, though. It’s something to see them not only make a sports story their lead story, but to take a firm editorial stance on it, and back that up with the unusual step of an edition-wrap poster urging particular action from the public. It’s also something that we haven’t really seen in North American sports.

Yes, we’ve seen moments where numerous American and Canadian media outlets have publicly gotten behind athletes and teams (often around the Olympics or the World Cup; the recent Women’s World Cup’s a good example, especially for U.S. media outlets). Yes, we’ve seen some coverage that could be dubbed advocacy for particularly trail-blazing athletes, especially recently around Caitlyn Jenner, Jason Collins, and Michael Sam. Those stories have been primarily treated as standard news by the majority of outlets (and debate fodder for those particular corners of the American media). And while there’s been plenty of individual opinion pieces written in support of them, it hasn’t really been close to the systematic effort we’re seeing from Australia.

To see a story unfold like this in 2015 is truly stunning, not just because of the appalling nature of the racial vilification facing a legendary athlete for celebrating his indigenous heritage. It’s rare to see so many different entities, with competing agendas most of the time, come together and unite for a common purpose.

If these same events were to happen to an athlete of Goodes’ stature in American sports, it would have a similar effect in going well beyond the sports world and rocking the entire nation. One could make a good case that it would be the biggest sports story in a number of years. It’s rare that an athlete’s story transcends sports, but the support for Adam Goodes is doing just that in Australia. And in those moments, media outlets and everyone else involved has to decide whether it’s more important to be objective or to take a public stand for a worthy cause. From this corner, the actions of The Age and The Morning Herald in particular are laudable; they’re taking a firm stance on something that started as a sporting issue about a particular player, but one that is now much more than that. Sometimes there are stories and moments that are transformational and go outside the traditional lines of sports and media. The support of Adam Goodes as something that could really transform how Australia approaches race and racial issues is one of them.

]]>http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/australian-medias-support-afl-legend-adam-goodes-shows-stories-transcend-sport.html/feed0Bringing the Olympics to the next generation via its own channelhttp://awfulannouncing.com/2015/bringing-the-olympics-to-the-next-generation-via-its-own-channel.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bringing-the-olympics-to-the-next-generation-via-its-own-channel
http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/bringing-the-olympics-to-the-next-generation-via-its-own-channel.html#commentsSun, 02 Aug 2015 17:00:24 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=44451

Last week, the International Olympic Committee gathered in Malaysia to vote on the host city for the 2022 Winter Games (Beijing, a city that has no snow, but that’s a story for another day). But the meeting that was officially deemed the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur also discussed one major issue that the Committee […]

Last week, the International Olympic Committee gathered in Malaysia to vote on the host city for the 2022 Winter Games (Beijing, a city that has no snow, but that’s a story for another day). But the meeting that was officially deemed the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur also discussed one major issue that the Committee that has circulating for years, the Olympic Channel.

Sir Martin Sorrell of the global communications firm WPP gave the keynote address to the IOC telling members about the younger generation and how to reach them. Sorrell said reaching “Generation Z” was tantamount for the Olympic movement’s future. In noting that millennials are the most digital-friendly, it was important to learn about social media and the apps they’re using.

And in telling the Committee about Generation Z, Sorrell said that a year-round Olympics Channel was part of that future. Now an Olympics Channel would not replace its rightsholders such as NBC, CBC, BBC, Discovery and others, but the Committee hopes it would enhance them by airing or streaming Olympic sports in off years.

An Olympic Channel has been a project that IOC Chairman Thomas Bach has embraced and back in December, he earmarked $600 million for the creation of the network for the next seven years in hopes of getting it launched before the 2016 Summer Games in Brazil. During the IOC Session, Sorrell said an Olympic Channel has the potential to reach the younger generation as long as the Committee marries it with social media and other platforms:

“You need to evolve to new consumption behaviours in both younger demographics and in fast-growth markets, more online and more mobile,” he said. “The challenge will be to deliver a solution that reaches this new audience, linking to platforms they are already engaged with and extending the window of the Games outside the two- or four-year period. You have to get more continuity into the offer. The world is ready for a mobile first social content platform united under a powerful purpose that resonates with people around the world. And the IOC has the potential to create just that.”

Both NBC and new European rightsholder Discovery have pledged that they will help in providing the infrastructure needed to launch an Olympic Channel and keep it going. Part of that will be deciding whether it will be strictly on television or an over the top platform and it appears it will begin as an online venture where millennials are watching videos.

Another issue is events rights and in the United States, many Olympic sports such as alpine skiing, figure skating, track and field and swimming are aired on beIN Sport or Universal Sports. Either NBC which has a partial ownership stake in Universal can buy it outright to make it into the Olympic Channel in the U.S., or the Olympic Channel will have to compete with Universal for events. And the individual sports federations will want to know how they will share the money from the IOC once the channel begins operation.

But for now, we do know that the Olympic Channel is not just in the planning stage, but becoming reality. With a base in Madrid, Spain and a technical staff of about 100, the channel will get ready to go online. The content is a question, but the IOC is confident that its new online venture will be a success with viewers.

As the Deflategate story reaches a crescendo, the release of e-mails by the New England Patriots to the National Football League regarding leaks to ESPN shows some interesting behind-the-scenes machinations. At the “Wells Report in Context” site which was created by the Patriots to show their side of the controversial thesis, there’s a section that shows the correspondence between […]

As the Deflategate story reaches a crescendo, the release of e-mails by the New England Patriots to the National Football League regarding leaks to ESPN shows some interesting behind-the-scenes machinations.

At the “Wells Report in Context” site which was created by the Patriots to show their side of the controversial thesis, there’s a section that shows the correspondence between Patriots general counsel Robyn Glaser and NFL counsel Jeff Pash over the leaks to ESPN. Now the section which shows e-mails exchanged from this past February 17-19 shows the anger of the Patriots and requests the league to stop the leaks to Bristol and correct what it calls misinformation.

Some of the language from Glaser shows not just frustration over what is perceived as patronizing from the league, but also a lack of urgency to stop the leaks. You can see the entire exchange at the website, but we provide some of the e-mails here. The first correspondence is from Patriots Vice President of Media Relations Stacey James to NFL Senior Vice President of Communications Greg Aiello:

Then the lawyers got involved and Patriots counsel Glaser made it clear that none of the leaks to ESPN came from the team:

After Pash responded by saying any leaks to ESPN did not come the league, Glaser fired back urging the NFL to correct any information regarding Deflategate and get its house in order. Glaser also complained about the outing of locker room attendant Jim McNally as a potential scapegoat:

Pash said that despite what the Patriots thought, the NFL did not send any leaks to ESPN:

The following day, Pash seemed beaten down from Glaser’s harsh words calling them “accusatory and personal.” His short reply to the Patriots counsel states that they are just going around in circles and he will end the correspondence.

We rarely see internal discussions like this between the league and one of its member teams. However, as the Patriots hope to get quarterback Tom Brady reinstated and the league continues to press the matter, it’s fascinating to see ESPN keeping quiet on the leaks. You already know about ESPN NFL Insider Chris Mortensen bailing from an interview with Boston’s WEEI and the fact he has said his original source over the amount of balls deflated came from inside the NFL.

Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch site tweeted that ESPN know it’s caught in the middle between the NFL and the Patriots, but staffers can’t speak publicly on the matter:

ESPN is of course aware of the Patriots releasing email exchanges with the NFL regarding leaks to ESPN, but staff can't talk about it.

The BBC is known for its serious style of reporting. However, on Thursday during an edition of SportsDay, Chris Mitchell signed off by pretending to scroll through a tablet with just his hands. Why? We explain below, but before we get there, it’s definitely a different look for “Auntie Beeb.” http://youtu.be/HEVmFG3Yz3U CNET says Mitchell’s iPad […]

The BBC is known for its serious style of reporting. However, on Thursday during an edition of SportsDay, Chris Mitchell signed off by pretending to scroll through a tablet with just his hands. Why? We explain below, but before we get there, it’s definitely a different look for “Auntie Beeb.”

After years of being the punching bag for college football fans and pundits, the Big Ten is riding high off the momentum of Ohio State’s National Championship victory in the first ever College Football Playoff. The conference seems to finally be on the rebound after almost a decade of mediocrity, disappointment, and loss after loss […]

After years of being the punching bag for college football fans and pundits, the Big Ten is riding high off the momentum of Ohio State’s National Championship victory in the first ever College Football Playoff. The conference seems to finally be on the rebound after almost a decade of mediocrity, disappointment, and loss after loss on the national stage. Not only has Urban Meyer brought Ohio State back to the top, but Mark Dantonio has turned Michigan State into a perennial Top 10 team and Jim Harbaugh has given Michigan fans hope he can do the same. It’s never been better to be a part of the Big Ten and you bet the conference and the league’s network are going to take full advantage of it.

Heading into the new football season, Big Ten Network will be launching a new program following the defending national champion Buckeyes. The network will be offering a Hard Knocks style behind-the-scenes look at Ohio State training camp this August. BTN has quite a bit of experience with all-access programming with The Journey (which routinely does an excellent job) being shown throughout the season, but going in-depth with preseason practice is a new field of endeavor.

The Big Ten Network will debut an original program in August with an exclusive, behind-the-scenes series featuring the Ohio State Buckeyes training camp as they prepare for the 2015 football season. The in-depth, documentary style show will follow the reigning national champions over a portion of pre-season practice.

One of the nation’s premier programs, Ohio State marches toward Week 1 at the forefront of the college football conversation. On the heels of defeating the Oregon Ducks in the first College Football Playoff National Championship Game, OSU will begin its title defense by seeking a win in their opening game against Virginia Tech, the team responsible for the Buckeyes’ lone loss in 2014.

[…]

“Over our nearly eight-year history, BTN has consistently demonstrated an ability to tell the story of our conference, schools and athletes via original programming,” said BTN President Mark Silverman. “As a testament to our track record, Ohio State is trusting us to do just that as the Buckeyes embark on yet another potentially historic season.”

Forget the national championship defense, I don’t know if there’s a college football team that has had as much intrigue for their pre-season practices as the 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes. Not only is there the quarterback battle between J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones, but former Heisman contender Braxton Miller is going to be changing positions between quarterback and wide receiver. And if that wasn’t enough, Miller is going to be even further relied upon in his new role right away with the suspension of four Buckeyes for the opening game against Virginia Tech – another storyline for BTN to perhaps embrace.

The one question for BTN might just be what stories they’ll be able to unearth during Buckeye practices. Will the network be able to unearth anything hard-hitting or challenging for Ohio State (like the aforementioned suspensions), or since this is the conference network we’re talking about, will this just be a series of recruiting videos? The latter would be disappointing because there’s so many opportunities going inside a college camp. The network could highlight a number of different storylines from positional battles to what it’s like to be a walk-on to the daily struggle of the student athlete. There are more avenues to go down here than maybe even in Hard Knocks itself. This has the chance to be excellent if BTN can explore some of that space and go beyond the single-minded positive coverage we might expect from a conference network.

This is a dream for BTN to be able to go inside Buckeye practices given Ohio State’s huge fanbase and the appetite for these kind of all-access programs. (For the record, Ohio State and Meyer allowed ESPNU into training camp for a similar series back in 2012.) And given the nationwide intrigue for the #1 team in the country, BTN may accomplish a rare feat for a conference network and produce compelling programming that may bring in viewers outside the conference footprint.

If you were with us on Friday, you saw the strange timeline of events where ESPN sorta kinda avoided giving Peter King credit for breaking the news that Russell Wilson was re-signing with the Seahawks. First ESPN ignored King’s report and gave their own report that a deal wasn’t done, then when they did report it, […]

So how did ESPN report on the trade deadline themselves? A quick cursory glance at the @SportsCenter Twitter account tells an interesting story. We went back through the last week and examined how SportsCenter broke the news of trades that took place and how the outlet chose to source the story. It turns out that Multiple Reports won the day in a landslide…

The liberal use of “Multiple Reports” and “ESPN & Media Reports” is far from perfect. In fact, it’s become something of a running gag for a reporter who breaks a news story to expect their name to be changed to “Media Reports.” And given the scorecard above, the use of “Media Reports” is becoming very prevalent inside Bristol… almost as much as “Sources” was a few years ago. And it’s easy to see why that’s advantageous to ESPN – because an ESPN follower can’t exactly Google “Media Reports” to see what other content they may have that’s worth consuming.

In addition, it’s done with such confusing and needless inconsistency that creates the laughable scenario seen with Peter King where ESPN tries to take credit for breaking a story they said wasn’t broken yet. Why is it that only sometimes ESPN credits other outlets and writers by name? Why is it that sometimes they choose to run a story based on “Multiple Reports” (like the initial Carlos Gomez trade to the Mets that didn’t go down) and on other occasions they butt in with “ESPN & Multiple Reports”? On the whole, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s almost like watching ESPN play with a Random Sourcing Generator for their breaking news.

Earlier this week, we told you that ESPN’s Beth Mowins will call three Oakland Raiders preseason games later this month, marking a first for her. And later in the week, ESPN announced that Mowins has signed a new contract with the Worldwide Leader, keeping her in the fold for the foreseeable future. She’ll continue to […]

Earlier this week, we told you that ESPN’s Beth Mowins will call three Oakland Raiders preseason games later this month, marking a first for her. And later in the week, ESPN announced that Mowins has signed a new contract with the Worldwide Leader, keeping her in the fold for the foreseeable future.

She’ll continue to call college football and will require a new partner as Joey Galloway with whom she’s worked for the past couple of seasons will be in the Bristol studio on this fall.

As well as calling football, Mowins does play-by-play on college basketball, college softball including the Women’s College World Series and she also called games with Cat Whitehill for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany. The new contract ensures that Mowins will continue calling the aforementioned sports at ESPN.

Also this week, Mowins’ alma mater, Syracuse University honored her with the Marty Glickman Award, named after the famous broadcaster who also graduated from the institution. According to the official announcement, Mowins was bestowed the award for her leadership and work in sports media.

In addition to her work at ESPN which has seen her in various play-by-play roles, Mowins also worked at CBS where she was mostly a sideline reporter.

Mowins is part of a large Syracuse contingent that works at ESPN including Monday Night Football voice Mike Tirico, fellow college football announcer Sean McDonough and a host of others.

And she’s quoted by ESPN about her honor at Syracuse:

“Syracuse has provided a launching pad for so many people now at ESPN, and I often lean on the advice and guidance of my fellow Orange. It is a real testament to what Marty Glickman started.”

Mowins began calling college football in earnest for ESPN starting in 2005.

Heavy metal music, a car peeling out, fire-breathing hot rods and smoke on top of smoke on top of smoke. That’s how the first episode of Mobsteel—debuting on NBCSN August 16th at 6pm ET—starts up. And then it stalls. The first line of the show, before we even meet the cast of characters that make […]

Heavy metal music, a car peeling out, fire-breathing hot rods and smoke on top of smoke on top of smoke. That’s how the first episode of Mobsteel—debuting on NBCSN August 16th at 6pm ET—starts up. And then it stalls.

The first line of the show, before we even meet the cast of characters that make up the Mobsteel crew, is “that’s what horsepower smells like, boys.” Yes, it was the first one of many hand-selected cheesy catch phrases some member of the production staff was tabbed with writing for a group of custom car builders who are suddenly trying to become reality stars.

The search for the next great reality TV dynasty has seen dozens of shops just like Mobsteel get their own shows, and through two episodes, Adam Genei, his wife and business partner Pam and their team of Steve “Steve-O” Ryan, Doug “Wheatbread” Haines and Ron Coan do very little in separating themselves from the pack.

Adam Genei, Courtesy NBCSN

In fact, Mobsteel the TV show probably isn’t doing justice to Mobsteel the car building brand. There’s something that draws you to the cast almost immediately—much of which has to do with their connection to Detroit and how important the auto industry has been for generations in that part of the country. Rather than tapping into the grittiness of where Mobsteel is and what running a business in that community means to those involved, NBCSN and Hoff Productions give the audience a run-of-the-mill reality TV retread in desperate need of direction.

Take the intro to the show as a perfect example, as Genei sells both his brand, and the show itself, with a combination of two very different sales pitches.

“We’re in Detroit, and we build some BADASS cars,” Genei says. “Handmade, Detroit steel. Real sweetboy rides.” That sounds exactly like every other hot rod show, and does nothing to get the audience interested in watching yet another version of the same old ride.

“Mobsteel is all about that soul the city has to offer,” Genei continued, “and we like to put that in every ride we build.”

There you go. That’s something. That’s the show. Or at least it should be.

Via NBCSN/Vimeo

Through two episodes offered for review from NBCSN, the highlights come when Genei and his crew travel to other local shops, talking with Detroit automotive lifers about a everything from a piece of junk Lincoln they want to an old truck in a junkyard they need to an explanation of how to custom manufacture rims—Genei also owns his own custom wheel company in the same shop as Mobsteel—to going to an old diesel shop to take apart, test and rebuild a motor with 350,000 miles into a 500-horsepower beast.

Grounding the show in its roots—in Detroit’s roots—would not only make the show different from the other crap-car turned dream-ride programs we’ve seen time and time before, but it would give Mobsteel a path away from the formulaic brand of reality television that makes shows like this terribly boring.

Watching people work is boring, even when their jobs are cool. So rather than make up little crises like every other reality show, Mobsteel has a chance to flip the script and make it a show about Detroit, as seen through the eyes of a big-city shop with a small-town feel.

There are other ways to fix the show, too. For starters, NBCSN either needs to cut the show down to 30 minutes or the producers have to edit together multiple builds, because there is no way watching four guys take apart and rebuild an 1963 Lincoln into nothing more than a nicer looking Lincoln is worth 60 minutes of your day.

Second, unlike CNBC’s Car Chasers, which is all about finding cars, negotiating a good price and flipping them for a profit, Mobsteel didn’t even have the payoff of… a payoff.

In the first episode you will meet Jamie, a hard-working auto guy Genei calls “the all-American story” who was looking for, in his words, “a hardcore gangster looking ride. Lincoln, ’63 maybe…Mobsteel style, you know what I’m saying?”

We know what you’re saying, Jamie, and, I’m sorry, but that does not make for good TV.

Jamie’s a blue collar Detroit guy, and they made it clear he’s saved up for this car for years, so he doesn’t have enough money to make a “six figure ride” like they often do at Mobsteel. Too much of the episode was about staying under budget, especially when we learn the crew got an old beat up Lincoln that, wow, happened to be the same year Jamie wanted, for $6000, then went to a junkyard that, wow, also happened to have the same year car to buy a $600 hood.

Courtesy NBCSN

In the end, we never find out how much Jamie paid for the car, if the crew stayed anywhere near budget or even how much it would cost us to have a jalopy turned into a masterpiece like Jamie’s. There was literally zero payoff, outside of Adam handing Jamie a fedora to wear on his test drive.

A fedora? Just hit me with a car right now.

Instead of an actual payoff in episode one we got Ron wearing a box on his head to avoid getting sparks in his eyes, and Wheatbread talking about how happy he is that he isn’t called Corndog, which is Ron’s nickname that nobody actually calls him because he looks like a crazy man who will eat you like a corndog if you call him that. Oh, and because they’re goofballs, see.

Every reality show is going to have some inherent nonsense, but the Chumleesque Duck Dynastied Honey-Boo Booing of every show to come down the pike these days is redundant and tiresome. For a show on NBCSN, Mobsteel had a chance to really tap into the sporty nature of speed and power and the real thrill of the build. Instead we got more of the same, and nobody needs the same anymore.

Via NBCSN/Vimeo

There is some really cool ‘thrill of the build’ stuff in Mobsteel, but too much of the show is thinly-veiled scripted nonsense like using a blowtorch near a gas tank (that was clearly empty at the time) suddenly “catching on fire” just as the show was going to break, or a siren behind the crew, which we found out after coming back from break turned out to be an ambulance.

It being Detroit, Mobsteel could highlight the daily grind of earning a living in a dying automotive market. Instead, it being Detroit, we got lines like, “it’s a bullet hole?”

“A bullet hole? Nice.”

It’s not even that the dialogue is stupid, or that lines like that undercut everything the crew says about Detroit the rest of the show, it’s that the bullet hole exchange may have been the most compelling dialog of the entire first episode.

The rebuild was pedestrian—again, given the budget constraints—and it made me wonder why they would have picked that car for the first episode, or why there wasn’t a secondary storyline with something much crazier, bolder and more interesting.

The second episode did have two storylines, including a very brief trip to a farm to help a guy redo his big rig with a new grill, in exchange for some of the guy’s beef. Yes, Steve-O chased a cow for a while. No, they did not play Yakety Sax.

“Lets get your grill on, so I can get my grill on,” Genei says to his cattle-ranching friend, which is a pretty good line I will admit.

Via NBCSN/Vimeo

The main story of episode two was about the crew rebuilding two old trucks into one monster work truck with flames and smoke stacks and a totally rebuilt back end they fabricated from scratch. Instead of spending the entire episode on all the inner-workings of how to essentially build a truck out of nothing, Mobsteel spent at least 30 minutes trying to hide the truck, and how much the parts cost, from Pam.

“Don’t tell Pam” may not have been the name of the episode, but it should have been, and it made Pam out to be an old fuddy duddy, and the enemy of those good ol’ boys having fun at work. Yes, Adam loves Pam, but he loves fun too and Pam is all business. They’ve established the dynamic early, and it’s so horrifically lazy that if they had to go there in episode two, they might as well turn over the keys to the whole thing now.

If they did that, though, we’d never get such amazing interactions as Adam telling Wheatbread to watch his head on a garage door, to which Wheatbread replied, “how can you watch your head?”

Come to think of it, he’s got a point. It still would have been had he hit his head. At least then there would have been something worth remembering.

Courtesy NBCSN

Just two episodes in, Mobsteel already needs a bit of a rebuild. It’s fine to be fun and goofy in an effort to come off as engaging, but the parts of the show that really worked were the most grounded, not the nonsense.

If this NBCSN vehicle focuses on the cars, the city and four hardworking Joes (and one hardworking Pam), they might have something worth watching.

If the show is just junk like “when in doubt, muscle it out” and very little drama outside of two small fires, a stalled out truck and trying not to scratch the paint job while they put in an engine (they didn’t even come close to scratching the paint), Mobsteel might be headed to the junkyard sooner than anyone at NBCSN would like.